Page 136 of The Shrouded Queen
My eyes darted around wildly before settling on the sand. I dropped to my knees and started digging furiously.
“What are you doing?” Keir demanded.
“It’s the only option.”
The Roc drew closer, eating up the distance like it was nothing. Its tan mane rippled in the wind, and it released an earsplittingcaw.
“Fuck.” Keir plunged his hands into the sand beside me. He worked much faster than me, hardly taking his eyes away from the bird as he gestured to the sizeable hole he created in mere moments. “Get in.”
I jumped in and lay on my back.
Keir threw sand on top of me, head darting up every few seconds.
The Roc’s beady eyes were visible now, and its violet beak dipped toward us.
“Hurry, Keir.”
He finished burying me and looked up. With another colorful swear, he ordered, “Don’t move.”
“Keir—”
The Roc’s shadow covered us. Keir let loose a vicious roar as he dropped his sword and his face elongated, his body lengthened and fleshed out, fur sprouted, claws burst out of his fingernails,and suddenly there wasn’t a man standing above me, but a bear. Completely animal, save for his eyes, which burned with human fury.
He roared again—and then tore off in the opposite direction.
The bird gave chase with a shriek, beating its wings right on top of me and sending sand flying. I squeezed my eyes shut as sheets of it sprayed my face.
Then the sun blazed forth again as the Roc’s shadow moved, making a beeline for Keir’s retreating form.
I waited several breathless moments, the weight of the sand claustrophobic. Panic rose up in my chest. I couldn’t see what was happening, but I heard Keir’s bellows, the Roc’s screeches.
Get up, I urged myself.Get up and do something.
But I didn’t know how to use a sword, and I couldn’t shift into any animals. Remaining hidden was the smartest thing I could do.
A gentle breeze tickled my face. Soft, delicate. A caress. Entirely unlike the hot, dry gusts of the Wastelands. It was purposeful. Like a finger against my cheek.
I blinked as I felt it again, and it trailed away from me. Like it wanted me to follow it.
Going against my every instinct, I struggled to move. The sand was a band around my chest, my arms, my legs. But I gritted my teeth and pulled hard.
My right arm burst free. Then the other. I sat up, sand cascading off me like a waterfall, and staggered to my feet, spitting out the small grains that had somehow gotten into my mouth.
That wind brushed through my braided hair before trailing away again.
A short distance from me, Keir and the Roc were engaged in a fierce battle. I scooped up Keir’s sword. I had no plan, just a feeling driving me forward. The Roc had just beaten its wings against Keir, whose fur was already matted with blood. He righted himself with a snarl before lunging at the bird.
The Roc screamed as Keir’s razor-sharp teeth clamped down on its shoulder, and slammed its beak into Keir’s side. Keir roared in agony, releasing his grip as blood gushed out. He crashed into the sand, and the Roc was on him in an instant, tearing at him.
“Keir!” I shouted.
As I ran toward him, the wind skimmed past me again, bringing a sudden shadow. I looked up, half expecting to see another terrifying monster. Instead, where before there had been nothing but hot blue skies, a slate-gray cloud swirled, as if an invisible finger was stirring the sky. And not just any cloud.
Astormcloud.
I gasped as thunder rolled over the desert, loud enough to shake the earth. Lightning flashed, louder than the sound of Keir’s pained roars, and then, like a bucket had been overturned, the cloud dropped a deluge of water.
I stared with parted lips at the sheets of falling water. I’d never seen rain before. Any other moment, it would have been magnificent, but right then, it was downright miraculous. Water, plummeting uninhibited, like there were endless reserves of it, pounding against the dry sand and the enormous bird.
